The subject matter of the present invention relates to a perforating apparatus adapted to be disposed in a wellbore including phased shaped charges, the charges being phased in particular manner such that the distances between the perforations in a formation traversed by the wellbore produced by the phased charges are maximized, the maximized distance between two adjacent perforations preventing sand from one perforation from spilling over into the other perforation.
When a perforating gun having phased shaped charges is disposed in a wellbore and detonated, a plurality of perforations are produced in a formation traversed by the wellbore. A bridge is formed between adjacent perforations in the formation. If the bridge fails, disaggregated sand will be produced through the perforations resulting in reduced hydrocarbon production and, potentially, a complete failure of the well. Therefore, the charges in the perforating gun should be carefully phased for the purpose of preventing, to the maximum extent possible, any such bridge from failing between the adjacent perforations in the formation. In order to prevent the bridge between adjacent perforations from failing, the charges in the perforating gun should be correctly phased. In order to correctly phase the charges in the perforating gun, an optimum phase angle must first be determined; and, when the perforating gun is designed, the charges in the perforating gun must be phased by an angle equal to the optimum phase angle.